The present invention relates to a vehicle body front structure and more particularly to the structure of a front end module for holding at least a radiator core and a condenser.
As is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open 2001-18838, as a front end module disposed at a front end portion of a vehicle body, a front end module is widely used in general in which headlamp housings are integrally provided on a radiator core support for holding a radiator core and a condenser.
In the front end module of this type, a bumper beam is mounted at a position confronting an upper portion side of a front bumper face, and an impact absorbing member made of foamed resin is disposed between the bumper beam and the bumper face.
Incidentally, in recent years, there have been proposed body structures in which impact is designed to be aggressively absorbed not only at an upper portion of a front bumper but also at a lower portion of the front bumper from a point of view regarding a pedestrian protection. In addition, disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open 2000-6739 is a technology in which a bracket is interposed between a front bumper face and a cross member for fixedly mounting a lower portion of the bumper face to the cross member on the vehicle body. A plurality of mounting wall surfaces is adapted to overlap a front surface of the cross member. Pairs of vertical surfaces are extended forward from both sides of the respective mounting wall surfaces in such a manner as to be substantially normal to a transverse direction of the vehicle are formed integrally with the bracket. Mounting locations to the cross member are provided on the respective mounting surfaces. According to this technology, the respective vertical surfaces function as impact absorbing members from the lower portion of the front bumper face.
However, as has been described above, in order to have a structure in which impact can be absorbed at the lower portion of the front bumper as well, there occurs a need to provide additionally a cross member for holding an impact absorbing member at a position confronting the lower portion of the front bumper face ahead of the front end module. The additional member like this leads to risks that the body structure is made complicated and that the production costs are increased highly.